Our friends at the restuarante were shocked just as we were.  Unfortunately, a number of months earlier they’d been victims of a robbery so there was a common understanding between us.  I joked and said I couldn’t pay for our meal – but I could wash dishes!

Back at the Casa I immediately started the process of contacting our bank, credit card company, etc.  Prior to coming to Mexico, I specifically requested my MasterCard have a chip – uncommon in the states, but it gives an extra layer of protection down here.  I had a 6 digit PIN for my ATM card (the key is – I thought it was just an ATM card and not also a debit card),  so I was quite sure it was secure – wrong!

When I went online to the MasterCard account, everything was still fine so I Skype’d our credit card company, told them the issue and they immediately closed the account.  We’ll get a new account with new chip embedded cards within a week or so.

But our Bank of America checking account had been sucked dry in less than 2 hours.  Huh – how could they figure out my 6 digit ATM PIN number so fast?

It turns out, as I found out later, the thieves didn’t take cash from an ATM machine.  They used the card as a simple debit card and ran it down to an empty tank.

I’ve always considered myself knowledgeable about financial matters.  That’s why I insisted on a chip MasterCard before coming to Mexico.  But I always thought my ATM card was just that – cash from a machine taken from my checking account and not a debit card.  Nothing more, nothing less.

A fraud person at the bank explained that when the ATM card has a Visa/MasterCard logo on it, it can be used as a debit card and the checking account runs until empty.  She acknowledged that that fact greatly increases the risk factor of what happened to us.

She also said the bank would cover those losses since we’d reported the loss immediately.  I asked if BofA could issue my new ATM card with a chip – but no, BofA doesn’t have those.  Bummer.  So my “karma” was definitely ruffled on Saturday over that incident and I got no studying done.  Sunday was pretty much a loss as well…

But now I know that my new future ATM card is – in essence – cash.  I’ll no longer carry it around as I did before but only when I know I’ll need it for an ATM withdrawal.

Lessons learned!